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Thursday, August 30, 2012

A Modest Proposal: Batman the Series

I think it's high time we had a new live-action Batman series on television.

With CW's new series Arrow, focusing on the Green Arrow, we're seeing a gritty, realistic, drama about a millionaire who fights crime as a costumed alter ego at night. If they can pitch that, why the hell aren't we seeing a Batman series? With no slight at all intended towards Green Arrow fans, of course.

I envision a show that's a cross between the first Michael Keaton Batman film and Batman The Animated Series, with a little dash of The Dark Knight. Forgive me for not delving into more detail or drawing more inspiration from the comic books, but I'm much more familiar with the film and television material.

From Keaton's Batman, take a lot of visual cues; the stylized look of Gotham City, Batman in body armor, and a Gotham City whose criminal element is more mob bosses and petty crooks than a never-ending parade of costumed super villains. From Batman The Animated Series, take more visual cues; the art deco interior decor, the general "film noir" style, the more realistic looking Batmobile (but not so realistic that it becomes something more suited for the streets of Baghdad than Gotham). Take also the idea of introducing Bruce Wayne's background preparing to become Batman in flashbacks; his martial arts training in Japan, his training to become an escape artist under Zatara, etc. From the Dark Knight, take the more realistic portrayal of the equipment in his arsenal and the emphasis on more prosaic crime bosses. For goodness' sake, stay away from the garish colors and campy attitude of Batman Forever and Batman and Robin.

I'd do hour long episodes, with season-long (or even multi-season) character and story arcs, but still crafting the individual episodes so they're fairly self-contained. You shouldn't have to watch the entire season to have fun watching a particular episode, even if some of the nuances of character growth and building story lines are lost upon you. Make at least a third of them non-super villain stories. Mob bosses, hoods; ordinary crimes that need solving and ordinary victims that need protecting.

6 comments:

If you're as big a Batfan as I am, and it sounds likely, head on over to Smodcast.com and try out the Fatman on Batman podcast. Some killer interviews with some great people. You might not know them all, and the links to the Bat may seem tenuous, but give them a go. The Ralph Garman one is especially wonderful.

Would you believe that I had this very same thought this morning?? Something reminded me of the old Batman TV series theme song and I remembered thinking how cool it was when I was a kid and how much I loved the show, even into my early teens if memory serves. I know my 9-year old son would like a Batman TV series.

Frankly, I think the Batmobile needs to look like a regular car-not an ordinary car (and certainly loaded with gadgetry) but it has to pass. Because, if it unique and associated with Batman-there will be an app for that. His every move will be tracked by people (camera phones) who think it's cool. And the website hosting this-run by organized crime.

I think a TV show should avoid any connection or similarity to the recent movies. Not even using the same villains. At all. Until well into the series, of course. And I'm fine with the more "unnatural" Batman enemies. Batman The Animated Series did three things (and proved they work) that all other incarnatoins seem to miss.

1. Unnatural enemies can be awesome and believable in a dark and uncertain atmosphere. When Clayface or Poison Ivy or Mr. Freeze show up in the series, you don't think "Well how are they going to explain the science/reasoning behind that being real?" because it didn't matter.

2. Backstories are unnecesarry and irreelvant unless they affect the immediate actions of the villain. Other past actions can be handled in episodes aimed at tackling them.

3. Batman is the real person. Bruce Wayne is the mask. Batman does not long to give up being Batman to be Bruce Wayne, he longs to give up being Bruce Wayne to be Batman. Bruce is just a tool for Batman to use.

If the series showed it understood those things, I'd be all over it. But we all know all the series would do is turn Bruce Wayne's life into a drama and have him constantly being depressed about "having to be Batman". Especially if the CW got a hold of it.

East Coast OSR Convention

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